For the past few years I’ve posted up three lectures over the Christmas period that I think provide an interesting commentary on key issues of our time. The tradition is inspired by the Royal Society Christmas lectures that began with Michael Faraday in 1825.

A lot of my writing over the last few years has been around the future of work, and so my chosen lectures last year revolved around that very topic.

This year seems to have been more overtly political, as movements such as Donald Trump’s hijacking of the Republican party and the Brexit-driven lurch to the right for Britain’s Conservative party have heralded a desire to shut down borders and create a more inward looking world.  It’s a year in which we recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, and yet many seem to want to re-build physical or metaphorical boundaries between us.

I’ve written numerous times over the past year about the value of open borders for our careers, for our scientific research, and for our ability to create and grow innovative startups, so it’s on this general theme that my three lectures this Christmas shall revolve.

The first is by economist Bryan Caplan, who has long been an advocate of open borders, and this year published a groundbreaking graphic novel where he grapples with the economic and human issues involved in the topic.  I thoroughly recommend the book, but if you want to learn more about many of the issues raised within it, then the following lecture, given to St. Cloud State University will give you a good introduction.